Delany Delivers Breakers Blitz Win on the Buzzer

Sunday, November 21, 2021

There were good signs all over the place for both teams to start the NBL Blitz double-header but in the end it was New Zealand Breakers star Finn Delany who delivered his team the thrilling 92-90 win against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

There were good signs all over the place for both teams to start the NBL Blitz double-header but in the end it was New Zealand Breakers star Finn Delany who delivered his team the thrilling 92-90 win against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FINN DIESEL CALLED GAME.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLBlitz?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLBlitz</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/Z6UdY3TZkD">pic.twitter.com/Z6UdY3TZkD</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1461970806808870914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On an afternoon when French pair Ousmane Dieng and Hugo Besson shone for the Breakers at Melbourne's Sport and Aquatic Centre combining for 42 points, it was Delany who proved match-winner on the last play in a game that did seem destined to go down to the wire.

The Breakers started the game well to lead 24-18 by the end of the opening quarter but the Phoenix closed the gap in the second period to take a narrow 40-39 advantage into the half-time break.

Things remained close throughout the second half with New Zealand managing to assume a 66-64 lead at three quarter-time, and then down the stretch the lead continued to change.

Following a huge block from Chinese superstar Zhou Qi on Breakers big man Yanni Wetzell up against his old team, Mitch Creek scored up the other end for South East Melbourne to give them the 87-86 lead.

Wetzell scored inside up the other end with 32 seconds remaining and then coming out of a timeout, Creek drained a three ball for the Phoenix to give them a 90-89 edge following a horror New Zealand turnover.

Coach Dan Shamir called for the timeout for the Breakers to draw up the last play and it worked a treat with William McDowell-White finding Delany who knocked down the three-pointer and New Zealand won the game by two points.

It wasn’t pretty but effective with his three ball going in off the glass after his double clutch release following two Phoenix defenders flying by him.

While Delany will grab the headlines with his finisher and he had 12 points and four rebounds, the Breakers would be most encouraged by what they got out of their two new French signings heading towards #NBL22.

Hugo Besson delivered 24 points, three rebounds and two assists on 10/18 shooting while Ousmane Dieng added 18 points and nine boards.

There was more to like too for New Zealand with what Yanni Wetzell managed inside against the team he shone with a season ago. He finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

William McDowell-White also had eight points and four assists, Rob Loe seven points and Peyton Siva six to go with four assists.

New South East Melbourne captain Kyle Adnam top-scored for his team with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists while new import Xavier Munford looked good for 20 points, four boards and four assists.

Mitch Creek came back into the line-up for the Phoenix and produced 18 points on 8/11 shooting with Zhou Qi finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds, and Isaiah Le'Afa seven points.

Both teams have some time now between playing again with the Breakers playing the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday in Wollongong while the Phoenix face Melbourne United next Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 92 (Besson 24, Dieng 18, Wetzell 14)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 90 (Adnam 21, Munford 20, Creek 18)

BOX SCORE